Darkness at Noon
by Cerebrate
Summary: Su's machine malfunctions and the girls at Hinata-sou get their personalities mixed up! Will Naru still be for Keitaro now that she is no longer who she used to be? What does Keitaro think?


Disclaimer: 

I do not own Love Hina.

Author's Note:

Well, this is my first story for the series and I hope you will enjoy it. I am not accustomed to using Japanese phrases such as -san, -kun, -chan…etc., so please bear with any mistake(s) I make. If it is a rather annoying mistake, please address it in a review or something; I would appreciate it. There also appears to be something wrong with my indentations but I don't know what.

DARKNESS AT NOON

Chapter One: Discombobulation

By: UNKNOWN

Stifled conversations could be heard through the door, and from outside one could see the gestures which the silhouettes made. The noise quickly died down when a voice shouted, "I'm finished!"

            The silhouettes made their way toward one small girl who was sitting all alone. 

            "What do you think she's got?" Haitani asked his ronin friend, Shirai, who did not respond but instead peered harder through the window.

            After a long minute's silence, Shirai responded intellectually, "I don't know."

            Haitani sighed and continued to watch the girls tinker with the tool that the Indian girl, Su, had made. 

            Soon enough, the tool began to hum and beep loudly, while the lights on the front began to flash wildly.

            "Uh… hey Shirai… I think that machine's going to blow!"

            Shirai looked at him, seemingly angry. "Can you be quiet? I'm trying to look for Haru-"

            There was a loud bang, followed by a huge explosion. Smoke shot of the window Shirai and Haitani were looking through and shoved them into the bushes around the main stairway to Hinata-sou. The windowpanes shattered and glass went flying everywhere, clinging loudly as they hit cement. Charred pieces of wood crumbled, no longer able to support the weight of the entire inn. After a few more seconds, the entire center of the inn collapsed, making a sighing noise as a cloud of dust settled.

            Haruka, who was in her teashop the whole time, ran out the minute she heard the loud bang. _Was someone just murdered?_

Climbing up the stairs to Hinata-sou, she was bewildered to see that the center of the inn had completely collapsed, forming a V shape as the sides of the inn were forced upwards by the weight which smashed the center. 

            Haruka removed the cigarette from her mouth, and blew outwards as she surveyed the scene. _Everyday something new happens… _Shaking her head, she turned back towards the store and wondered where her nephew was.

"Let see… I think I got everything on the list," said twenty three-year old Keitaro Urashima, as he carried three bags of groceries up the stairs. He checked his watch, which read: "7:29". Keitaro sighed, then looked up at the sky where the stars were just beginning to appear. _I hope the girls don't kill me for being late._

            As he approached the teahouse, he saw his Aunt Haruka standing in the doorway of her teashop. 

            "Aunt –" Keitaro began as his aunt bashed him in the face with a tray. 

            Keitaro smiled apologetically as he rubbed his nose while returning the tray to Haruka. Haruka looked at him quizzically while smoking her cigarette. 

            "Say, Haruka-san, the girls aren't mad at me are they? They're probably starving now, thanks to me," he stated blandly, looking down at the bags of food he had bought.

            Haruka felt her forehead, then massaged it slightly as she said, "I think the girls have a bigger problem than a scarcity of food right now."

            "Huh?"

            Haruka pointed to the column of smoke rising from the inn and she turned back to tend her teashop.

            Keitaro gasped as he saw the smoke and immediately dashed up the stairs, pondering in his mind what could have happened.

            _Shinobu messed up cookin- no… that would never happen. Naru was cooking? Maybe. Su was cooking again? No… she was probably working on some Mecha Tama to kill me with. Kitsune…?_

With these thoughts contemplating in his mind, Keitaro made his way to the final step and laid his eyes on what remained of Hinata-sou. As he surveyed the ruins, he heard groans from the bushes to his left. Running over, he found… 

            "Haitani? Shirai?" he shrieked. "You burned down the inn?"

            Haitani rolled over and lay face down on the grass, while Shirai gazed happily up at a tree branch.

            Not waiting to see what other things his half-conscious friends would do, he ran around the inn and into the hot springs, where he saw Shinobu and Sarah on the rock floor. He looked around some more and found Kitsune's body floating in the water.

            Hoping they were not dead, Keitaro ran to Shinobu and Sarah, picked them up and propped them against a nearby tree trunk. Getting Kitsune's body was a lot harder as she was too far to grab. Keitaro waded in and tried to pull her out, which caused Kitsune's burnt clothes to fall apart. 

            Keitaro tried to stifle a nosebleed as he dragged Kitsune by the foot towards the same tree trunk. Running to the entrance of the hot springs, Keitaro grabbed a towel and with his eyes closed, threw the towel onto Kitsune's bare butt. 

            Now the only missing girls were Naru, Motoko and Su. 

            Circling around, now with the help of Haruka, he tried to look for anything that might reveal the location of one of the girls.         Climbing out of the hot springs area, he found Motoko with her stomach balanced on a tree branch. Keitaro pulled her leg to get her down and she fell on top of him. Haruka found Naru on the roof, sprawled like an eagle. Luckily, she still had a pulse though. 

            Now the only missing girl was Su, who would probably be the hardest to find. Unless she had started this explosion intentionally in the first place… As he turned to check up on Haitani and Shirai, he tripped on Sarah's hand and landed on Kitsune. Trying to lift himself up, he accidentally reached under Kitsune and grabbed her breast. 

            Trying to comprehend what he just did, he looked him when he heard Su's voice. 

"Keitaro! You pervert!"

_Eh? That sounds like Su's voice but that's not what she would say…_

He watched in disbelief as Su jumped out of the trees and tossed her fist at him, sending him into lower orbit. 

As Keitaro began his descent towards land, he thought to himself: _That punch really felt like Naru's, only the fist was Su's. How weird… since when did she start punching this hard?_

Keitaro put a finger to his lip as he thought, then blacked out as his head collided with the side of a truck. 

I hope that most of you don't accuse me of plagiarizing the title Darkness at Noon, but I was secretly trying to make it a pun (don't continue reading if you are easily bored). Basically, it is never dark at noon, unless it were raining, and in this story, you will see some of the Hinata characters do things they would never normally do (i.e. Motoko drunk) and that is essentially why I chose the title. Anyways… I could use some reviews to make the story better.


End file.
